Witness Got $2 Million To Testify In Drug Trial

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January 31, 1999

LOS ANGELES - The key undercover witness in the nation's biggest drug money-laundering case was paid more than $2 million to help prosecutors, according to testimony. The informant, identified in court papers only as CW-1, was involved in Operation Casablanca. About 40 Mexican and Venezuelan businessmen, bankers and alleged drug-cartel members were arrested in May after the two-year U.S. Customs undercover operation that spanned several countries. At a pretrial hearing in federal court Friday, defense attorneys argued the payments amounted to government misconduct.